SpaceBoy_86

Hey guys. So after much deliberation, I've decided to go with a parallel 4 link setup in the rear of my 95/6 f150. I wanted to go with a triangulated setup, but as many with a twin tank setup may know, theres not a whole lot of real estate back there, and if i keep my foreward fuel tank intact, my upper links would have to be terribly short. Now I've seen and heard tell of people reversing the rear upper links, but I'm not comfortable enough with the geometry to attempt that. Anyway, I digress. My question is regarding the stock shock mounts on the underside of the rear axle (ford 8.8). When i get rid of my leaf springs and install links and coilovers, could I just mount my coilovers on the old shock mounts, or would I be better off installing buckets in my wheel wells and coil mounts on the top of the axle? I plan on designing fabricating everything myself, links and mounts included, as well as an axle truss, so i want to know if i should incorperate coil mounts in my truss design. This may sound like a newb question, but alas... I am a newb truck guy. I've been around the block in the welding/fab world, but classic fords are a new passion of mine. Thanks in advance for the help guys! cheers

Steve83

Unless you're a successful automotive engineer, you should NOT attempt to re-engineer such a substantial & critical system as the rear suspension on any vehicle intended for highway speeds & public roads. Certainly not a truck that will ever haul cargo or pull a trailer on public roads. There are a LOT more considerations than you can imagine, and just what you've described so far will be unsafe & unnecessarily heavy/complex/failure-prone.

If you want to learn about fabricating a suspension, start with an off-road buggy. You're more likely to survive, and so is everyone else.

SpaceBoy_86

I appreciate the concern. This is going to be an offroad buggy of sorts. And while I am not an automotive engineer, I am an engineering student, so although I dont fully understand the compllexity of automotive suspension design, I am aware of the statics surriunding material strength and load distribution. Aside from a safety warning (which again is much appreciated of course), do you have any more helpful input? This is my version of a learning process, so outright stopping what im doing is not a possibility. thanks